


Not A Cloud In The Sky

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Going to be long, New World, Romance, Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi Romance, Weird, completely original, fictional universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 01:31:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13423860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Life began in a flicker.From nothingness came everything, and from everything came life.This is what happens after.





	1. Creation Myth

In a flicker, things were. 

From void came shadow, and from shadow came sky, and from sky came earth.

Rock and dirt and mud clashed together in a storm of creation, and they formed the land. And from the land came water, in the form of lakes and rivers of shimmering blue. 

The earth cracked open, and the towering peaks of mountains pushed their way through. 

And there was the World, and it had no name, but that which its creators gave to it. And they called it Orbis. The word had no meaning.

From the depths of Orbis came light, pure and unwavering, and the light took shapes of birds and beasts, but the light-things were unstable and soon fell apart.

But the creators were not done. They tried again, and again, and again, until finally, the light held strong. And they created the First, and the First had no name, but that which its creators gave to it. And they called it Alpha Omega, but the name it knew was A-Z. 

And so A-Z was there, but it was alone. The creators considered creating another, but they did not. Instead, they reached into the light, and from it they pulled a monster. 

The monster was tall, and red, and his skin was made of stone, and two massive lids covered eyes that could see all. And inside his veins, light flowed instead of blood. 

A-Z saw the monster, and reached into its heart, and pulled out the light. And from the light it forged another, and the other had no name. So A-Z gave it a name, and he called it A-A.

The First looked upon the Second, and saw that it was good. And A-Z gave the light to A-A, and then it was dead.

Death was something knew to A-A, only slightly newer than light. It tried to reverse what had happened, but it could not. So instead, A-A did the next best thing. 

It created a Third. And the Third was B-A.

And B-A looked over the endless forests and rivers surrounding them, and it looked up at the sleeping monster with a shadow that stretched across them all. B-A saw the vast, untamed land, and it decided to tame it.

So B-A built, a city made of sticks and wood, and A-A reached into the light and felt the power of some incomprehensible, uncontrollable being. And A-A decided to control it.

More came, and more came. More beings, with more names, and around them a city of stone and rock took shape. And each being had a purpose, and each serves that purpose, and as the new species became larger, its needs became greater, and so A-A forged more beings from the light, each with a purpose they lived only to fulfill.

Time passed, and time passed. A-A ruled the new city, the city made of bricks and iron, that had no name but that which A-A gave it. And that name was Astar. The word had no meaning. 

A-A ruled for a dozen years, then A-A was dead, and B-A ruled for nearly a decade, then B-A was dead. And the light passed from one to another, from B-A to A-B, from A-D to C-C, from C-C to G-D. And more came, and more came, in that city made of glass and shining steel. 

And G-D ruled for a half dozen years, then G-D was dead. And a new ruler came, but this one was different. This one kept its name secret. It ruled with the light of the red giant under its control, and with its name hidden by a title. 

The new ruler was called the Player Queen. The name was from a dream, said the ruler. And it took its dream, and made it a reality. It used the light, and made birds and beasts, which even the creators had failed to do. And it let those creations loose in the woods, and for the first time there was life beyond the city. 

But that wasn't all the Player Queen did. It decided that the way things were wasn't enough. It said that, in its dream, civilization was split between Man and Woman. And so it created Man and Woman. And so she created more and more, but this new generation was different. It had Man and it had Woman, and they were separate, though no one really knew how or why. 

The Player Queen ruled, in her palace built into the side of the monstrous Red King, who slept and dreamed and waited. 

And above the city of glass and shining steel, the Sun glowed brightly, as it arced across the sky, chased by the pale, cold Moon.

And there was not a cloud in the sky.

That is how things began. 

This is how they end.


	2. Impossible Things

R-O wasn't sure exactly how, or why, but it occurred to him that day that he was, alone out of the people of Astar, in love.

It was an interesting concept, one he had to ponder for a moment. How did he know the name, when it hadn't even existed before that very second? But regardless, R-O had felt something when he saw her, and he knew it was love. What else could it be?

The woman was nothing special, really. A servant, one of a dozen just like her R-O had seen scrubbing the walls and floors of the Queen's palace. Her appearance was, in a word, ordinary, her plain white clothes as simple and nondescript as the rest of the population's, and she said and did nothing to differentiate her from the any of the other women working in the halls of the castle.

And yet.

And yet there was something different about her, it'd be a lie to say otherwise. For when R-O saw her, he felt like his heart stopped for a moment, like the whole world had grown dim and it was just the two of them, alone in the dark-

"Soldier!" barked the gruff voice of R-S, the military's current head. "Carry on!"

R-O jumped to attention, rushing after the rest of the soldiers, realizing for the first time that he had trailed behind them. But as he walked through the massive golden doors of the palace's throne room, he felt a strange tingle on the back of his neck, and he knew that the girl was watching him go. 

The Player Queen was waiting for them, sitting atop her crystal throne, the diamonds glimmering in the torchlight. She wore a robe of silver chain links, woven together into a fabric, tight against the curves of her body. A golden ring wrapped around her forehead, with a single green emerald embedded in the front, to match the green of her eyes.

At her side stood a man R-O didn't know, though he wore the same white armor as the rest of the military. The stranger had thin, pale lips, curved up into a grin, dark eyes that conveyed a strange sort of malicious glee.

"Speak," commanded the Queen, and the six soldiers got to their knees. 

"We come with grave tidings," said R-S, all the bravado and authority gone from his voice. "I sent two patrols into the woods, in search of- of him."

"And they didn't come back?" asked the Player Queen, cold fury in her voice. The strange man standing next to her smiled wider.

"N-No, your Ladyship. They came back."

"And?" she snarled. 

"They had- They had gone mad. They babbled of... Kings and Creators and the end of the world."

R-O remembered how the men sounded when they had returned, and he shivered. It wasn't what they were saying that frightened him, as much as the conviction with which they said it. They spoke delusions, and they believed them with all their heart. 

The Player Queen was quiet for quite some time. Then:

"Come closer."

Slowly, R-S got to his feet. He took a few uncertain steps forward, and when the Queen reached out towards him, he flinched away. 

"Stand still," she growled, and R-S did as she said. The Player Queen wrapped her hand around his throat, fingernails digging into the flesh of his neck, R-S trembling in her grasp.

"P-Please," he begged, and R-O watched with a strange mixture of pity and amusement. But the Queen merely shook her head, and as she squeezed tighter, R-S began to grow fade, his tan, calloused skin growing translucent and revealing the muscles and bones within, his eyes closing- 

"Mother!" came a gleeful cry. R-O turned in spite of himself, to see something as unfamiliar to him as the feeling of love. A being ran towards the Player Queen, who moved her hand from the soldier's neck hastily. The being was clearly female, but she was strangely deformed- unnaturally short and thin, with no breasts or hips, and a vacantly adoring look on her face as she gazed upon the ruler of the known world.

"L-S," said the Queen impatiently. "You know not to interrupt me when I am having a meeting."

"Oh!" gasped the tiny woman, noticing the kneeling soldiers for the first time, eyes falling upon R-S, who was breathing heavily, crumpled on the floor. "I just wanted to show you-"

She raised a hand, and on it hopped a translucent toad, its tiny orange heart and purple lungs pulsing beneath its gelatinous skin. 

"I caught it in the garden," said L-S proudly. "Isn't it funny looking-"

"Leave us," ordered the Player Queen, and after a moment's hesitation, L-S fled, going back out the door from which she came.

The Queen turned back to the six soldiers, who were looking back up at her with clear confusion. She sighed. 

"State your names, soldiers," commanded the Player Queen, and the dark-eyed soldier standing in the shadow of her throne grinned.

"R-I, your ladyship."

"I'm R-N."

"R-K."

"R-M."

R-O spoke last, and as he did he realized what was about to happen. "R-O, your ladyship."

The Player Queen nodded in satisfaction, and sat back on her throne, closing her eyes. The soldiers waited, and around them the air shimmered and stretched, and then, in a flicker, they were gone. R-S disappeared in mid-cry, the sound hanging around long after he had vanished, echoing through the throne room. When it too had faded away, there was nothing left of any of the soldiers. 

Besides R-O. For he alone was untouched. 

"Rise."

The soldier stood up straight, though inside his chest his heart was beating fast. 

"Have the two patrols, the ones gone mad, brought to my dungeons. Learn everything they know. When you have, report it to me. Understand?"

"Yes, your majesty," said R-O quickly, bowing.

"Then you are dismissed," the Queen told him, and R-O turned away, unimaginably relieved. He was almost at the door when the Queen stopped him.

"And soldier?"

"Yes?" he asked, blood running cold.

"You will not speak of- her. To anyone."

"Of course not," said R-O quickly. He had his hand on the door when a question slipped from his lips, too quick for him to stop it. "Who was she?"

The Queen of Astar didn't reply at first, and R-O was sure that this was it. But when she spoke, her voice was surprisingly soft. Almost caring.

"My daughter."

That word had no meaning. But R-O understood it just the same.

"Yes, your ladyship. Thank you."

When he was out of the throne room, R-O half-ran through the castle halls, desperate to be long gone before the Player Queen's brief moment of mercy drew its course. He turned corner after corner, dodging servants carrying platters of food, guards carrying their fire lances, women washing the floor with sudsy sponges-

And there she was. Looking up at him with wide green eyes. R-O hadn't seen her eyes the first time. 

"Hello," he said, and the woman frowned. 

"You shouldn't be talking to me," she said. "You should be doing your job."

"How do you know my job isn't to talk to you?" asked R-O, painfully aware of how insane the servant must think he was. 

Then again, she was probably right.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I know it doesn't," said the soldier desperately, talking despite having nothing to say, filled with an unexplainable urge not to have her leave-

The woman had turned back to her work, ignoring him, and somehow that frightened R-O more than the Player Queen's wrath had.

"What's your name?" he asked, but she just kept scrubbing. R-O was moments from losing hope, when, suddenly:

"M-L. My name's M-L."

R-O smiled, and, satisfied, he walked past her. M-L jumped to her feet, calling after him with what sounded, impossibly, like worry.

"Where are you going?" 

"To do my job," he answered. And as he turned the corner, R-O looked back at the servant, and grinned at the indignation on her face.

"But I'll be back tonight," the soldier added, and then he was gone. M-L got back on her knees, resuming her work. She scrubbed the spotless floor, and, shaking her head, she smiled.


End file.
